Genesis 50:6

6 Pharaoh responded, "Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear."

Genesis 50:6 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 50:6

And Pharaoh said
To Joseph, by the courtiers that waited upon him at Joseph's request, who having delivered it to him had this answer: go up, and bury thy father, as he made thee swear;
the oath seems to be the principal thing that influenced Pharaoh to grant the request, it being a sacred thing, and not to be violated; otherwise, perhaps, he would not have chosen that Joseph should have been so long absent from him, and might have thought a grave in Egypt, and an honourable interment there, which he would have spared no cost to have given, might have done as well, or better.

Genesis 50:6 In-Context

4 When the period of mourning was over, Yosef addressed to the household of Pharaoh: "I would like to ask a favor. Tell Pharaoh,

5 'My father had me swear an oath. He said, "I am going to die. You are to bury me in my grave, which I dug for myself in the land of Kena'an."Therefore, I beg you, let me go up and bury my father; I will return.'"

6 Pharaoh responded, "Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear."

7 So Yosef went up to bury his father. With him went all Pharaoh's servants, the leaders of his household and the leaders of the land of Egypt,

8 along with the entire household of Yosef, his brothers and his father's household; only their little ones, their flocks and their cattle did they leave in the land of Goshen.